


Not the Doctor

by actually_its_cady



Category: Jagged Little Pill - Morissette & Ballard/Morissette/Cody
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:49:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22964932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/actually_its_cady/pseuds/actually_its_cady
Summary: Frankie is sick- really sick- and MJ is by her side every step of the way.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	Not the Doctor

**Author's Note:**

> woohoo I'm back! If you have any ideas for anything you'd like to see feel free to leave me a comment :)

MJ creaked open the door to Frankie’s room, allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness before moving to her bed. Gently, MJ reached a hand out to feel her daughter’s forehead. Still hot. MJ wasn’t sure what Frankie was sick with, but it was probably the sickest she had ever been. All day her temperature had risen, and her cough had gotten worse. 

As MJ turned to leave Frankie’s room, Frankie whimpered “Mom?” and rolled over to face MJ. MJ turned back and knelt next to the bed, softly running a hand through Frankie’s hair. “Oh, sweet girl. Can I get you anything?” she asked quietly.

“Can… can you just lay here with me?” 

MJ’s heart broke a little. Frankie was always the strong one in the family. The boldest, the loudest. She was rare to cry, and it was even rarer for her to ask for help from anyone. Her strength had been a pillar in MJ’s recovery. She was always there with a joke and a smile when MJ was feeling particularly rough, and their relationship had only grown stronger after MJ started being open about her past. For the last few months, MJ had been leaning on Frankie, but now, the roles were reversed.

“Sure can, sweetheart” MJ said with a smile before climbing on top of Frankie’s covers.

Almost immediately, Frankie curled into her mom’s side. MJ wrapped an arm around her and slowly rubbed circles on her back, something she had always done when Frankie was little. After a few moments, Frankie’s breathing became even and slow, and when MJ glanced down, her daughter was fast asleep, though her body temperature felt even hotter than before. MJ knew she should get the thermometer and check her temperature, but couldn’t bear to leave Frankie.

Settling farther into the pillows, MJ thought about how many times she had laid in this bed, Frankie at her side. As bold and brave as she was now, Frankie used to be terrified of the dark, and would refuse to go to sleep by herself. Steve and MJ always took turns laying with her until she fell asleep, although often, they would fall asleep beside her and wake up hours later with a tiny Frankie sprawled on top of them.

MJ thought back to a different time. Frankie had called her, crying, from a sleepover at a friends house. Her friend’s mom didn’t know why Frankie was so upset, and MJ had raced across town at midnight to pick Frankie up. On the way home, Frankie wouldn’t tell MJ what had happened, even though she was still clearly upset. It was only once the two of them were settled into Frankie’s bed, surrounded by pillows and stuffed animals, that Frankie revealed to MJ that the girls at the sleepover had been talking about her hair, and how Frankie’s skin was so much different than the rest of theirs. MJ remembered holding onto Frankie so tightly that night as she slept, as if she held her daughter tight enough, she would be able to protect her from all the ugly in the world. 

There was the time Frankie had broken her arm in the third grade, the time she had a crush on a boy who didn’t like her back. The stomach bug, the flu, strep throat- through all of it, the one constant was the part of the day where MJ would lay next to Frankie and hold her while she slept. 

Until Frankie had gotten to high school, and then MJ felt less like a mother and more like a babysitter- she knew Frankie, but she didn’t really know her. There were times when MJ felt like a stranger to her own children. They had grown up so fast, grown out of needing her, and MJ felt like she didn’t know them anymore.

Of course, part of that was because MJ was always hiding so much of herself. How can you really understand someone else if you don’t fully understand yourself?

Beside her, Frankie coughed, snapping MJ out of her thoughts. Gently, MJ eased out of Frankie’s grip and went to retrieve the thermometer from the bathroom. 

Steve was standing in the hallway, adjusting the thermostat, when MJ rushed out of Frankie’s room, panic in her eyes.

“Her temperature is 105. I checked it three times. I think we have to go to the hospital, Steve”, she said in one rushed breath. 

“Grab the keys. I’ll get her in the car” Steve answered. MJ rushed down the stairs and snatched Steve’s car keys from the bowl on the table. Steve was 30 seconds behind her, carrying a very groggy Frankie in his arms. MJ climbed into the backseat and held her arms out as Steve helped Frankie in beside her. As Steve drove them towards the hospital, Frankie leaned against MJ and whimpered quietly. 

“It’s okay, sweetheart, you’re gonna be okay” MJ whispered into her hair.

Once they got to the hospital, Frankie was whisked away, leaving MJ standing in the waiting room, alone. 

A few hours later, MJ found herself in another hospital room, less than a year after she had almost died in one.

Ignoring the rising panic in her belly, she focused her attention on Frankie, who was sleeping peacefully, an oxygen mask on her face. She had pneumonia, the doctor had said, but with a few days of medication she would be fine.

Frankie was going to be fine.

MJ let out a shaky breath, trying to expel the fear she still felt over Frankie’s illness. The medication they had given her made her sleepy, almost like a sedative, and the doctor had said that Frankie would sleep through the night without a problem, so MJ could go home. But MJ couldn’t leave Frankie by herself. 

Steve had gone home, after MJ saw how weary his eyes were. He promised to return early the next day, to check on his girls. But for now, it was just MJ and Frankie. And with Frankie in a deep sleep, it was really just MJ. 

Even though she knew Frankie would be okay, MJ couldn’t shake the anxiety of being back in the hospital. She guessed this is how her family felt when she was here, except they were probably a lot more confused. It’s easier to explain pneumonia than it is to explain almost a year of drug addiction, she thought to herself. 

MJ moved out of her chair and sat on the edge of Frankie’s bed, brushing loose hair off her sweaty forehead. Frankie looked very small, swallowed up by the oversize hospital gown and the oxygen mask. It was an odd sight for MJ, who was used to having Frankie be so big and bold that she filled an entire room with her presence. Now, the only sound was the even beep of the heart monitor and her slow breathing.

MJ studied her daughter’s face, trying to figure out how she had grown up so quickly. Over the last year, they had all been forced to grow up a bit- having a parent almost die from a drug overdose was certainly enough to change their family dynamic. MJ rarely felt like a mother anymore. She was so dependent on her family to hold her up and support her through her recovery that she didn’t feel like the perfect mom that she used to be. Sure, she still made breakfast and cleaned the house, but she also had to have Steve pick her up off the bathroom floor when she had panic attacks. She spent minutes at a time staring at the wall, until Frankie would touch her shoulder and bring her back. 

It had been a learning experience, for all of them, and it continued to be, every day. And as horrible as the situation at hand was, MJ realized that she felt like a mom again. Frankie had needed MJ to be her mom tonight, and MJ had stepped up and taken care of Frankie, really taken care of her, for the first time in well over a year.

Comforted by the thought, MJ curled up next to Frankie in the hospital bed, smiling slightly when she felt Frankie unconsciously shift towards her in her sleep. When the floor nurse came to check Frankie’s vitals a few hours later, she found MJ and Frankie asleep in each others arms, unbothered by the sunlight streaming through the window.


End file.
